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Presented by Facebook: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Tara Palmeri, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | | | BIF DIP — With President JOE BIDEN set to sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill better known as BIF in a few hours at a splashy ceremony, a new poll shows voter support becoming less and less bipartisan. Our latest POLITICO/Morning Consult survey found 50% support overall for the legislation. That’s down from 58% when Morning Consult first asked the question in mid-August, shortly after the Senate passed the bill. While support among Democrats (roughly 80%) and independents (45 to 50%) has remained relatively steady, there’s been a striking drop among Republicans. In mid-August, 40% of Republicans supported the bill; now, just 22% do. GOP support dropped 10 points over the past two weeks, when Morning Consult surveyed voters after the House approved the bill. END OF AN ERA — The longest-serving Democrat in the Senate, PATRICK LEAHY of Vermont, announced today that he will not run for reelection next year. He will retire after serving eight terms, dating back to Watergate, Natalie Allison reports. The Burlington Free Press’ Dan D’Ambrosio has a roundup of Leahy’s career highlights. (For his Astrotwins horoscope, read Stephanie Murray’s Twitter.) In his speech, he referenced the “remarkable” Rep. PETER WELCH (D-Vt.), who’s widely seen as the frontrunner to succeed Leahy should he choose to run. Popular GOP Gov. PHIL SCOTT, who would be a prized recruit for Senate Republicans, reiterated today that he won’t run. Some striking factoids: Leahy will end his term as the third longest-serving senator in history. (He’s been in the chamber since before four current senators were born.) He’s the only Democratic senator Vermont has ever elected. As president pro tempore of the Senate, he’s third in the line of succession for the presidency — a spot that would go to Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-Calif.) in 2023 if Dems hold the chamber. The powerful Appropriations chair’s departure also means that in the next Congress, the “four corners” appropriations leaders will likely be all women for the first time. BETO IS BACK — After an unsuccessful run for Senate in 2018 and president in 2020, BETO O’ROURKE is taking a chance on the governor’s race in Texas. ( Playbook first reported in early November that he was close to announcing his candidacy in the coming weeks.) “I want to make sure that we have a governor that serves everyone, helps to bring this state together to do the really big things before us and get past the small, divisive politics and policies of [Gov.] GREG ABBOTT,” he told The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek. O’Rourke starts as a high-profile candidate for Democrats but still an underdog. Unlike in his 2018 Senate run, he said he’d use polling this time, hit his opponent earlier and accept unlimited donations. David Siders writes that O’Rourke “can ill afford another loss” but “the race represents a comeback bid.” Launch video focused on the electric grid failure Good Monday afternoon. | | A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations
Rochelle is one of many experts working on privacy at Facebook—to give you more control over your information.
Hear from Rochelle on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet’s most pressing challenges, including federal privacy legislation. | | | TRIVIA TIME — Congrats to David Speck, the first reader to answer our Friday trivia question correctly: The site of the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships where “ping-pong diplomacy” got its start was Japan. BOOK CLUB — For POLITICO Magazine, Ruby Cramer hits the book tour circuit with HUMA ABEDIN, who says she feels “unburdened” now that “Both/And” is out in the world. But she’s also navigating a complicated web of revelations and silences, public and private, seeking to discuss her life in full even as many of the questions she faces come down to: Why didn’t you leave ANTHONY WEINER (earlier)? Plus: Ruby captures HILLARY CLINTON accidentally spritzing NICK MERRILL in the eyes with hairspray. BANNON CHRONICLES SIGN OF SURRENDER — STEVE BANNON turned himself in to the FBI this morning three days after he was indicted on criminal contempt charges. “I want you guys to stay focused, stay on message. Remember signal, not noise,” he said on a Gettr livestream to supporters, per The Hill. “I don’t want anybody to take your eye off the ball of what we do every day.” LAWYERING UP — Bannon has retained DAVID SCHOEN and EVAN CORCORAN as his defense attorneys, per Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu. Schoen was one of DONALD TRUMP’s lawyers during his second impeachment trial. Corcoran is also representing MICHAEL RILEY, the Capitol Police officer charged with obstruction of justice after Jan. 6. KNOWING MATTHEW GRAVES — The man who signed off on Bannon’s indictment is barely a week into his new job as U.S. attorney for D.C. Betsy Woodruff Swan reports that Graves has represented everyone from BEN CARSON to Gazprom to Qatar; he also successfully prosecuted then-Rep. JESSE JACKSON JR. and “had a front-row seat” to the failed perjury prosecution of ROGER CLEMENS. Graves’ private-sector work has raised revolving-door concerns for some, but Betsy talks to four former government coworkers who “said he has the highest ethical standards and is well suited to the challenges.” (IR)RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES DEPT. OF BAD TIMING — Democrats are banking on passing the Build Back Better reconciliation bill to juice up their 2022 prospects. But Alice Miranda Ollstein and Laura-Barrón-López pour cold water on (part of) that idea : Many health provisions, which are among the most popular in the bill, won’t start making a difference in people’s lives until 2023 or later. That includes prescription drug price negotiations and caps and Medicare expansion. “The lag in implementation could complicate the sales job for Biden and down-ballot Democrats,” echoing the party’s struggles with pitching Obamacare, though they say they learned from 2010. | | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT: Join POLITICO's Sustainability Summit on Tuesday, Nov. 16 and hear leading voices from Washington, state houses, city halls, civil society and corporate America discuss the most viable policy and political solutions that balance economic, environmental and social interests. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | POLITICS ROUNDUP THE BIG PICTURE — A full 30% of Americans say our system of government is not sound at all and needs significant changes in a new Monmouth poll. That’s up from 24% just four years ago, and from 10% in 1980. By comparison, over the last four decades, the share of Americans who say it’s basically sound but could use some improvements has plummeted from 56% to 35%. 2022 WATCH — Forget bad polls and historical precedent: Democrats may lose the House next year before the campaigning even really begins, “thanks to redrawn district maps that are more distorted, more disjointed and more gerrymandered than any since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965,” write NYT’s Reid Epstein and Nick Corasaniti . Republicans in the states have already carved up enough districts to net the five seats they need to take back the chamber, cementing their advantage not just in these midterms but for the foreseeable future. The bigger picture: All the gerrymandering “is likely to leave the country ever more divided by further eroding competitive elections and making representatives more beholden to their party’s base.” NOT GONE YET — ANDREW CUOMO may have resigned the New York governorship, but he hasn’t left the headlines or the political conversation. That’s left an exhausted Albany worried that he may try to mount a comeback next year or at least exercise his influence, reports Anna Gronewold. “Of course we’re not going away until the truth is revealed and we can’t control if some people have guilty consciences or if we are taking up valuable real estate in the heads of others,” his spokesperson RICH AZZOPARDI said. POLICY CORNER WHAT DEB HAALAND IS UP TO — Biden announced this morning that the administration will seek to close off a 10-mile radius around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon to new federal oil and gas drilling, as NYT’s Coral Davenport reported . The proposed ban would mark an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate action on climate change and on helping Native Americans, to whom this ancient Pueblo site is very significant. It will also draw major opposition from Republicans and industry. | | | |   | | | JUDICIARY SQUARE CONSPIRACY CONSEQUENCES — A judge today issued a default judgment against ALEX JONES in the defamation lawsuits brought against him by Sandy Hook victims’ families. The ruling means Jones has to pay all damages to the families over his lies that the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax. Judge BARBARA BELLIS’ move is “the most severe sanction Bellis could issue,” and avoids going to a civil trial, reports the Hartford Courant’s Zach Murdock. AMERICA AND THE WORLD AFTERNOON READ — In The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum takes a big swing at what’s happening to our world in a new feature: “The Bad Guys Are Winning: If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies—communism, fascism, virulent nationalism—the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.” TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE — The U.S. and Europe are considering whether they’d levy sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine, Bloomberg’s Alberto Nardelli, Samy Adghirni and Jennifer Jacobs scooped . It’s early days yet in such discussions, of course, but a package could also include increased security aid to Ukraine. — But the U.S. is struggling to understand Russia’s intentions because it has a major intelligence lacuna in President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s inner circle, report CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Jim Sciutto and Katie Bo Lillis . That means informed speculation about whether Russia will invade is not much more than informed speculation at this point, though “the trend lines are unsettling.” PRESSURE CAMPAIGN PAYS OFF — American journalist DANNY FENSTER has been released from a Myanmar prison after widespread outcry over his 11-year sentence for reporting, and he’s leaving the country for safety. BILL RICHARDSON seems to have helped negotiate his release and was on the ground with him. More from the BBC | | | | WOMEN RULE: JOIN US WEDNESDAY FOR A TALK ABOUT THE NEW WORLD OF WORK: The way women work, including what is expected and demanded from their workplaces, has been upended. How should businesses, governments, and workers take advantage of this opportunity to rethink what wasn’t working and strengthen working environments for women moving forward? Join the Women Rule community to discuss with leading women and explore how they are seizing the moment. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS Karen Attiah is now a muay thai fighter. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Katarina Mayers is now VP of programs at Rock the Vote. She most recently was chief of staff for New York City’s 2020 census team, and is a Commerce Department alum. TRANSITIONS — Morgan Finkelstein is now spokesperson for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department. She most recently was an advance associate for the White House, and is an inaugural committee and Center for American Progress alum. … Ellen Satterwhite is now head of U.S. policy at Patreon. She previously was VP at the Glen Echo Group. … Nate Beltran is joining Rep. Marc Veasey’s (D-Texas) office as a tech policy advisor. He most recently was an associate at Dewey Square Group, specializing in tech and telecom policy, and is a Filemon Vela and Jim McGovern alum. … … Craig Muckle is joining the Council for Responsible Nutrition as director of comms. He’s a PR strategist and a Safeway and Rite Aid alum. … Sanford Stark, Saul Mezei and C. Terrell Ussing are now partners at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, continuing their tax controversy and litigation practices that they previously had at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. … Issue One is promoting Ethan Rome to chief of strategy and programs and Elise Wirkus to legislative director, and adding LeLann Evans as campaign specialist and Jamila Taylor as senior development manager. OSTP ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Matthew Hepburn is now a senior adviser to the Office of Science and Technology Policy director on pandemic preparedness. He most recently was vaccine development lead for Operation Warp Speed/Countermeasures Acceleration Group, and is a retired Army infectious diseases physician. ENGAGED — David Martin, manager of government affairs at Harley Davidson and a Samsung alum, and Elisabeth Coats, director of policy and advocacy at the National Neighborworks Association and a Senate Appropriations alum, got engaged Friday. He proposed at Radici in Eastern Market, where they met three years ago when she was a barista and he came in as a customer. Pic … Another pic WEEKEND WEDDINGS — Lachlan Markay, who covers money and influence in politics at Axios, and Anna Massoglia, an investigative researcher for OpenSecrets, got married Saturday at Mon Petit Garden in Miami. Asawin Suebsaeng officiated. Pic … SPOTTED: Tim Mak, Robby Soave, Zach Gillan, Walt Cronkite, Ellen Carmichael, Ben Howe, Christian Hertenstein, Brendan Quinn, Noah Shachtman, CJ Ciaramella, Lauren Ehrsam Gorey and Jason Gorey, Kelley Hudak, Lydia O’Neal and Andrew Perez. — Tyler Menzler, chief of staff for Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), and Ashley Bailey, scheduler for Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), got married Saturday at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill. They met campaigning for Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) in November 2018. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Emily Beline, senior counsel for international regulatory affairs at FedEx and president of the Association of Women In International Trade, and Tom Beline, partner at Cassidy Levy Kent, welcomed Magnolia Claire Beline today. Pic | | | | Sponsored Survey SHARE YOUR OPINION: Please take a short, 3-question survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
